Missouri takes on former coach Odom, Arkansas in rivalry game

COLUMBIA, Mo. — Missouri quarterback Conor Bazelak should have a pretty good idea how to dissect the Arkansas defense today.

His old coach is the one running it.

Barry Odom didn’t wander far after he was fired by as the head coach of the Tigers late last year, accepting a job as the defensive coordinator under new Razorbacks coach Sam Pittman. Now, the two budding SEC rivals — by proximity more than anything else — meet with the intriguing subplot of Odom trying to slow down Bazelak and the Tigers.

“The way I look at it this week is I’m not playing against him. I’m playing against the players that are going to be on the field,” said Bazleak, who was recruited by Odom to Missouri out of high school. “Yeah, he’s coaching them, he’s the defensive coordinator, but this offense and myself are playing against the Arkansas players.”

The game was supposed to be played last week, but COVID-19 testing within the Razorbacks program forced the game to be postponed. The SEC wound up sending Vanderbilt to a blowout loss in Columbia while Arkansas got the week off.

Now, two teams that have surpassed expectations meet with potential bowl games in the balance.

The Tigers (4-3, all SEC) have won two straight and four of their last five, their lone loss coming to Florida. They unleashed a dominant ground game against the Commodores and began to show glimpses of the offensive ingenuity of Eli Drinkwitz, the former Appalachian State coach who was chosen to replace Odom in Columbia.

Despite losing three of their last four, the Razorbacks (3-5) already have more wins than each of the past two seasons.

“They’re standing in our way from accomplishing what we want to accomplish this year and we’re standing in their way, so that’s rivalry enough,” Drinkwitz said. “There’s plenty of storylines, however you want to create them. But the bottom line is it’s a players’ game, and on Saturday at 11:00, whichever team is ready to play the most is going to win. And, you know, both of us desperately want to win. So rivalry or not, I think we’re both going to get each other’s best shot.”

Especially given the Razorbacks will be nearly healthy after injuries and COVID-19 positives the past few weeks.

“We anticipate having a close to full roster. Our testing went well (this week),” Pittman said. “We were able to do some walk-throughs and meetings last week with the anticipation of playing Missouri, and now we’re just having a regular week.”